Mediterranean Sausages

Sort of like glamorgan sausages, but different.

Makes 6 - so serves 2 or 3.

2 crusty bread rolls - something exotic by preference

3/4 jar half-dried tomatoes (it's from Sainsburys)

125g grated cheese

1 egg

Oil for frying

Tear up the rolls, and reduce to fine breadcrumbs in the blender. Put in a large bowl, and blend the tomatoes until all chopped. Add to the breadcrumbs. Add the cheese and mix well. Break an egg into the mix, beat and mix in well. Clump the mixture together with your hands (yes, messy I know), and divide into six. Get them as close to the same size as you can. Squeeze the mix portions until quite compact, and shape into a sausage (the back of a large knife is handy here).

(Making them into flat sided shapes will make frying easier)

Refrigerate for half an hour or more.

Fry over a medium-low heat. Let them cook, but not burn - don't keep fiddling with them or they will fall apart. Should only take a few minutes per side.

Serve with carrot & coriander puree, mash & gravy.

Cajun Prawns with Peppers

1 large onion

2 Bell Peppers - 1 red, 1 yellow

2 cloves garlic

2 tsps veg buillion made up to 1/2 pint.

1 pack tiger or other large prawns.

Rice / white wine

thyme

Cajun Seasoning

tabasco

Oil for frying

1 cup long grain & wild rice (Sainsbury's do a good one, the Tesco offering is poor)

Serves 2

Chop the onions into small pieces and fry until almost translucent. Slice the garlic finely and chop the peppers into small chunks (about 5-7mm a side). Add to the onions and cook over a low heat for a few minutes. Add enough wine to cover the bottom of the pan, and turn up the heat, bringing the wine to a boil. Sprinkle thyme over the lot, generously. Stir. Add the buillion, stir again. Sprinkle a fine covering of cajun seasoning over the lot. Careful here - put too much in and it can come out quite spicy! Add 0-4 drops of tabasco to taste.

Get the rice started - cooking as per packet.

Let the sauce cook down until there is only a little liquid left.

Serve over the rice.

Seafood Pasta

1 tin of white crab meat

1 pot crayfish tails

1 (v small) pot of dressed lobster

1/2 large onion

4 dessert spoons (heaped!) of thick cream. Or probably about 100ml of double.

1 egg yolk

1 spring onion, chopped

Cream sherry

Butter

Olive Oil

(Fresh) Pasta

Serves 2

Chop the onion very fine. Melt a slice of butter in a large pan. Add a little olive oil. Once the butter has melted, fry the onions slowly over a low heat until translucent.

Meanwhile start cooking up the pasta.

Once the onion is ready, add enough enough sherry to cover the pan to about 5mm. Increase the heat until the sherry boils and simmer for 2 mins. Take off the heat, and add in the cream. Mix well. Whisk in the egg yolk. Add the crab & crayfish. Stir well. Heat until the sauce is thickening - will take longer if crab / crayfish not drained properly.

Once the pasta is cooked, add to the sauce, and stir together. Add in the spring onion, and mix well. If still watery, cook down until the sauce covers the pasta.

Serve with the lobster on top of the pasta as a garnish.

Chicken Gravy

1/2 large onion

1 clove garlic

2 mushrooms

olive oil

butter

2 sage leaves

3 sprigs of winter savory

1 tsp English mustard

rice or other white wine

2 chicken stock cubes made up in 3/4 pint boiling water

Sauce (fine) flour

olive oil

butter

Juices from a roast chicken

Chop onion finely. Warm a pan with about 1 tbsp olive oil & a similar amount of butter. Once the butter has melted add the onions and cook over a low heat until transparent.

Meanwhile chop the mushrooms finely, and chop the herbs very finely.

Once the onions are transparent, crush the garlic into the pan and cook for another minute. Add the mushrooms, and cook until they are soft. Then add the herbs and cook for another minute. Keep the heat low the whole time - the onions must not brown.

Sprinkle a fine dusting of flour across the mixture in the pan, and stir in. Add enough wine to cover the pan to about 1 cm, and bring to the boil. It should start to thicken. Add the stock and bring back the the boil. Add the mustard. Cook it for about 40 mins, adjusting the temperature so that at then end you have a nice thick gravy. Probably need a strong simmer.

Just before serving add in the juices from the roast chicken (if you have any) and whisk over the heat to ensure they are well mixed in.

Glamorgan Sausages

1 leek, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

Butter, for sweating

140g cheddar cheese

140g fresh white breadcrumbs

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

1/2 tsp english mustard powder, or just mustard.

1 egg, beaten

oil for frying

Sweat the leeks un the butter until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 5 mins.

(Low heat, slowly)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Shape into sausages, cover and fridge for 30 mins.

Fry them.

NB: Cook slowly over a low heat

Italian Steak & Sauce

Fillet Steak.

1 tin tomatoes

1 cup cooking wine

3 cloves garlic

1/2 jar roasted pepper antipasti

1/4 jar wild mushroom antipasti

10 green olives, chopped

5 pieces green jalapeno, chopped

Beef stock cube

Lea & Perrins

Dijon mustard

Ketchup

Mixed Herbs

1 handful of pasta (twists, etc)

Cornflour (if needed)

Double Cream

Add the wine to the tinned tomatoes, garlic, ketchup, lea & perrins and a good sprinkling of mixed herbs. Cook hard and fast (stirring often to stop it burning) until a thick sauce. Then add the mustard & beef oxo cube.

Chop all the bits of antipasti down to a small size, and add to the sauce with the rest of the vegetables. Cook over a medium heat.

Put the pasta on to boil and cook as per instructions. Add to the sauce once cooked.

Turn the sauce down to a minimum, but thicken as necessary. Don't overcook the pasta

Fry the steak as desired. Once half way through, add a little cream to the sauce, and keep warm.

Serve the steak over the sauce, accompanied with focacia bread.

Serves 2, or maybe 3.

Sweet and Sour (Chicken)

It's taken a few attempts to get this basic dish right, but I think I've nailed it this time. The meat & veg is less relevant than the sauce, but this is what I did.

Sauce

1/3 cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup white wine vinegar - I'm told that rice vinegar works better.

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon (or so) ketchup

1 tablespoon rice wine

1 heaped teaspoon sugar

2 heaped teaspoons cornflour.

The Rest

1 chicken breast, diced (smaller than you might)

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped

Most of a pack of baby sweetcorn & asparagus - sweetcorn halved, asparagus chopped

2 handfulls mushrooms

small tin of pineapple chunks in juice (see above - this should be 1/3 cup)

Thai 7 spice

1/2 cup rice per person

(Apologies for the cup measures, I'm not going American, but they work well here)

First, fry up the chicken in a wok with a little oil & 7-spice. It's not going to get cooked much more after this, so make sure it's cooked all the way through. Should start or almost start to brown. Remove & set aside.

Add a little more oil to the wok and fry the onions slowly until they start to go translucent. Take off the heat once done if need be.

While that's going on, start the rice off. (As per pack).

Meanwhile, put all the sauce ingredients except the cornflour in a small sauce pan and mix well. Put it on the hob for a few minutes, until the vinegar is getting right up your nose. No need to boil!

Mix the cornflour in a little water until a thick liquid. If it's too watery it won't work, so be careful.

Mix the cornflour in with the sauce, stirring all the time. Should thicken quickly! I used a whisk here. You probably don't want to do this over the heat, although do return it to the heat for a little to ensure all the cornflour is cooked. Put to one side.

Once the rice is 5 mins from finishing, add all the veg and the chicken back into the wok. Stirfry over a high heat for three minutes, then add the sauce, stir thoroughly, turn the heat down and cook for another 2 minutes.

Serve with prawn crackers.

Will serve 3 or 4 probably. There was certainly more than 2 helpings!